International concerns about a possible North Korean nuclear test increased today with reports that Kim Jong-il may have crossed the border into China to explain his military provocations to uneasy allies in Beijing.According to the South Korean media, satellites have tracked a special North Korean train, the usual form of transport for Mr Kim, entering Chinese territory. If confirmed, it would be his second trip to Beijing in less than a year - an unheard-of flurry of diplomacy for a notoriously travel-shy figurehead. The reports are impossible to verify, but they come amid growing signs of Chinese anger with Mr Kim over last month's missile tests, and regional anxiety about his next move. Earlier this month, the South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun, requested an emergency summit with Beijing's leaders.... http://www.guardian.co.uk

Taliban militants attacked a southern Afghan town Thursday, sparking intense fighting with Afghan troops, the defense ministry said. The militants used mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns in the attack on Naw Zad, in volatile Helmand province around 8:00 a.m. (0330 GMT), said Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi.He said that the fighting between the Taliban and Afghan army troops was "intense," but that he had no further details about the scale of the assault or casualties. ...http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,211429,00.html

At least 13 bombs exploded almost simultaneously Thursday at commercial banks in southern Thailand, where Muslim insurgents have waged a bloody campaign for autonomy, police said. Initial reports said that several people were injured but details were not available, said police Maj. Gen. Kobjit Chitkaroon.Eight of the bombs went off in the capital of Yala province while five exploded in the province's Betong district, he said....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,211428,00.html

A handful of sun-bleached white bones and the powerful stench of rotting flesh are all that remain of three lions.Partimo Ole Mereru Shoop pushes back the acacia bushes that cover the savanna around his simple farm. "There, just there," he says in the language of his Masai tribe, pointing to flattened grass where the poisoned lions died.Their remains were found last month. They are the latest victims in a bloody cull of lions across Masailand, a swath of southern Kenya claimed by both the cats and one of Africa's most recognized tribes.As more Kenyans move to once-wild areas, tensions have grown between the cat and human populations, threatening the survival of lions in this part of Kenya, the Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project says....http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-08-30-lions_x.htm?csp=34

Australian-led peacekeepers and United Nations police are hunting for 57 escaped prisoners in East Timor, including rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado, after a breakout that may further destabilize the Pacific Ocean state. Forces were searching the nation's capital, Dili, and surrounding areas today after the escape from Becora Prison late yesterday, the UN's Acting Police Commissioner Antero Lopes said in a statement. Reinado, an Australian-trained former military police commander, led a group of rebel soldiers who refused to lay down their arms after former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri dismissed around a third of the country's armed forces for deserting. ...http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aviVJkIdQ070&refer=worldwide_news

The pilot of a Canadian airliner who went to the washroom during a flight found himself locked out of the cockpit, forcing the crew to remove the door from its hinges to let him back in, the airline said Wednesday. The incident occurred aboard a flight from Ottawa to Winnipeg Saturday. The regional jet, capable of carrying 50 people, was operated by Air Canada's Jazz subsidiary. Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stewart said that with 30 minutes of the flight to go, the pilot went to the washroom, leaving the first officer in charge. But when he tried to get back into the cockpit, the door would not open. "The door malfunctioned.... This is a very rare occurrence," Stewart said, adding that the crew's decision to remove the door had been in line with company policy. A report in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper said that for about 10 minutes "passengers described seeing the pilot bang on the door and communicating with the cockpit though an internal telephone but being unable to open the door"...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14588206/